{"id":22763,"date":"2011-07-14T09:06:22","date_gmt":"2011-07-14T07:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=22763"},"modified":"2011-07-15T07:57:43","modified_gmt":"2011-07-15T05:57:43","slug":"restaurant-review-caffe-hausbrandt-cape-towns-4th-best-tripadvisor-restaurant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/restaurant-review-caffe-hausbrandt-cape-towns-4th-best-tripadvisor-restaurant\/","title":{"rendered":"Restaurant Review: Caff\u00e9 Hausbrandt, Cape Town’s 4th best TripAdvisor restaurant!!!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>When Cape Town was voted as the top city in the world in the Travelers’ Choice Destination Awards\u00a0by TripAdvisor<\/a>\u00a0in April, we wrote about our scepticism about the value of the awards, given that this prestigious rank on TripAdvisor, with millions of reviewers the site brags, has not led to any increase in accommodation enquiries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We also wrote about the laughability of any TripAdvisor accolade, knowing how easy it is for accommodation establishments and restaurants to have reviews written by friends and family, a growing criticism that TripAdvisor has tried to address.\u00a0 The height of\u00a0absurdity was TripAdvisor’s list of Top 10 restaurants in Cape Town.\u00a0 My eye caught the name of Caff\u00e9 Hausbrandt, a restaurant which I had never heard of before, which was number 3 on the TripAdvisor list at that time, and which has now dropped to 4th position, in the Top 10 company of Le Colombe, Opal Lounge<\/a>, Miller’s Thumb, San Marco in the Waterfront, Constantia Uitsig, Fork, Brio<\/a>, Savoy Cabbage, and Carne<\/a>, none of which have ever made the Eat Out<\/strong>\u00a0 Top 10 Restaurant list, other than La Colombe!\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A recent trip to the city centre was a good opportunity to try out this ‘top restaurant’, and I found Caff\u00e9 Hausbrandt on Greenmarket Square, which opened nine months ago in a space where a competitive coffee shop to Vida e Caff\u00e9, owned by Ian Halfon, used to be.\u00a0 My first impression was one of disbelief, in seeing an information bureau and ice cream\/coffee shop rolled into one.\u00a0\u00a0The entrance is dominated visually by the ‘Safari Information Centre’, which belongs to Searl Derman, the owner of Aquilla Game Reserve, sharing the space with Caffe Hausbrandt, but the latter’s\u00a0branding is barely visible.\u00a0 The interior looks reasonably smart, but an ice cream chest, a coffee making counter and cash register, a shelf of brochures for Safari, and an upstairs seating area are\u00a0an odd mix.\u00a0 Space is very limited inside, and that is why most customers would sit outside to enjoy the sun and the Greenmarket Square buzz.\u00a0 It is not without its irritation however, with street musicians and pushy salespersons trying to flog their CD’s and other wares.\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Manager of the outlet is Margot, and I could hear her German accent immediately.\u00a0 She seemed very defensive, almost irritated, and less than friendly.\u00a0\u00a0 Her waiter seemed to have a greater role in attracting tourists into the shop than waitering, proactively enticing them in to try the ice cream, irritating as\u00a0he was very loud and pushy.\u00a0 He also was the ice cream dispenser with an attitude, and it was clear that he did not have much knowledge about the ingredients of the ice cream, only reading the labels that the customer can also see!\u00a0 Margot proudly told me that she had made the Apfelstrudel herself.\u00a0 When I switched to German, she seemed more friendly, and more ready to answer questions.\u00a0 Odd was that the cake was served with a standard size knife and fork.<\/p>\n

Tables are white\u00a0with red chairs outside, and an all-weather couch as well.\u00a0 Each table has a simple Hausbrandt menu and an Aquilla brochure in a holder.\u00a0 This is clearly a coffee shop aimed at attracting tourists, with the hope that they will make use of the Safari information and booking service too.\u00a0 The South African Caffe Hausbrandt branches are on Greenmarket Square, on the pedestrian mall on Waterkant Street, and in Melrose Arch in Johannesburg, and are owned by Austrian Gert Uppinger and local Jaco Viljoen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The menu is simple – a selection of coffees, muffins (R14,50), croissants (R11,50), chocolate croissants (R14,50), Manner Schnitten (Austrian wafers\u00a0at R15), waffle and ice cream (R28), and\u00a0a few\u00a0cakes served with cream (R25).\u00a0\u00a0 Cappuccino costs R16,50, and was served on a smart silver tray, oddly\u00a0with a small glass of luke-warm water.\u00a0\u00a0 The ice creams take center stage, it appears, and seem to be the only reason why customers enter the shop, the Icezeit Gelato flavours changing weekly.\u00a0\u00a0 A small cup of ice cream costs R15, and R18 on a cone.\u00a0 It was delicious, very thick and creamy, and is made at the Waterkant Street location, I was told, surprising given how small it is, really just being a take-away outlet with a few chairs outside, and even smaller than the Greenmarket Square branch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hausbrandt is an Italian\u00a0brand of coffee established by Austrian Hermann Hausbrandt in Trieste in 1892 it would appear (the website is not very helpful in providing information), and has branches and sells its coffees around the world.\u00a0\u00a0In Cape Town Lufthansa’s call centre now has a Hausbrandt vending machine, and the brand is served at Raith Gourmet shop in Garden Centre (plus its new Constantia shop), and at Andiamo in the Cape Quarter.\u00a0On TripAdvisor, 14 reviews had earned the Greenmarket Square coffee shop 4th place on TripAdvisor, many reviews\u00a0being in German, and almost all praised Caff\u00e9 Hausbrandt for its excellent ice cream!\u00a0\u00a0 Most of the reviewers were from overseas, and not locals.<\/p>\n

Caff\u00e9 Hausbrandt, <\/strong>Greenmarket Square and 32 Waterkant Street, Cape Town, and Melrose Arch in Johannesburg.\u00a0 Tel (021) 422-3308\/(021) 421-0901.\u00a0\u00a0www.hausbrandt.co.za<\/a>.\u00a0 Twitter: @Hausbrandt1892.\u00a0\u00a0 There is no information about the Icezeit Gelato on the local Hausbrandt website.<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com<\/a>\u00a0 Twitter:@WhaleCottage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Cape Town was voted as the top city in the world in the Travelers’ Choice Destination Awards\u00a0by TripAdvisor\u00a0in April, we wrote about our scepticism about the value of the awards, given that this prestigious rank on TripAdvisor, with millions of reviewers the site brags, has not led to any increase in accommodation enquiries.\u00a0 We […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3,124,20,21],"tags":[32367,702,5308,4845,11412,1434,32378,225,6539,12366,12361,80,12362,1426,491,12364,12367,39,12369,12365,12368,11413,7070,10122,252,12363,2408,11332,12360,6087,1086,32373],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t